While the first movement of the “scene that celebrated itself” originated in southern England, the second movement seems to be coming from Chicago, and dream pop juggernaut Panda Riot is one of the best of the crop.

Panda Riot’s origins came about in Philadelphia between Brian Cook, Rebecca Scott, and their buddy the drum machine after working on a short film. The scenes of underwater travels and airborne plans begot the blessed-out wall of sound sing-alongs that became Panda Riot. Justin and Melissa were picked up when they relocated to Chicago to round out the collective.

Panda Riot stays true to cannon, taking cues from their forefathers The Swirlies, Helium, and Velocity Girl. However, Panda Riot’s devastating noise is cut with silky and sunny anthems, replete with instantly hummable melodies. The group not only displays an affable approach to music, they also show humor whenever possible – and their cover of MIA’s “Paper Planes” became one of Hype Machine’s most popular tracks of 2008.

The group’s engaging, audio-visual-sensory overload live show has put them in front of the likes of School of Seven Bells, Twin Tigers, and Akron/Family, a WOXY Lounge session in August of 2009, as well as got R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe to grip two of their CDs (have the group tell you the story sometime) when they played Athens’ Popfest.

This year (May 11th, 2010) sees Panda Riot unleashing a new EP Far & Near – a mature and sonically diverse collection of songs, ranging from the massive blast of reverberated guitars on “Streetlights and You and Me,” to the gentle and whimsical “Parallax View” (an ambient instrumental that will thrill fans of Mum before they jumped the shark).

Recommended if you like: Lush, Blonde Redhead, Asobi Seksu, My Bloody Valentine

Panda Riot on MySpace
Panda Riot on Twitter
Panda Riot Website

update 04/29/10:

tour postponed:

http://www.chapterhouse.info/Chapterhouse/The_Official_Chapterhouse_Website.html

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Early ’90s British shoegazers Chapterhouse are planning a rare North American tour. Opening will be German electo-artist Ulrich Schnauss, who will also join the band on stage for some songs.

Chapterhouse vocalist Stephen Patman tells Under the Radar, “This really is a one off deal for us so there are no plans for any further shows after these North American dates. It is the original line up except for Greg Moore who is filling in for Russell Barrett on bass.”

The band formed in 1987 and released two albums, 1991’s Whirlpool and 1993’s Blood Music. Chapterhouse were one of the leaders of the now highly influential shoegazing scene that included such artists as Ride, Lush, and Slowdive (and, to a lesser extent, My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins). –undertheradar

Recommended if you like: Blonde Redhead, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YtB4kxfQPs

Dates:

May 1st – Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto
May 3rd – The Bell House, Brooklyn, NY
May 5th – Lincoln Hall, Chicago
May 6th – Tractor Tavern, Seattle
May 7th – Troubadour, LA
May 8th – Mezzanine, San Francisco

http://www.chapterhouse.info
http://www.myspace.com/chapterhouseofficial